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Wind knocks over spruces in Loveland cemetery

100-year-old trees land among the graves of Loveland's pioneer families

By Craig Young

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
08/25/2014 07:09:27 PM MDT

Loveland employees Rayne Rule, left, Joe Williams, center, and Ed Murrah work Monday afternoon to remove branches from two blue spruce trees that were toppled during a storm Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Cemetery in Loveland. The trees, which are about 100 years old and 75-80 feet tall, landed on some headstones when they fell. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

LOVELAND -- Two of the oldest living residents of Loveland's Lakeside Cemetery — giant blue spruce trees — were blown over Saturday afternoon, landing among some of the burial grounds' oldest graves.

The trees, estimated to be 100 years old, snapped off in the brief windstorm that blew through Loveland between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.

"This is just what happens when you have an aging tree population," said Rob MacDonald, forestry specialist with the city's Parks and Recreation Department, as he began cutting branches from the trees Monday.

"It looks like one blew over and hit the other one," he said. MacDonald estimated the trees were 75 to 80 feet tall.

He said he learned of the trees' demise Monday morning and had a small crew of parks workers cutting off branches and throwing them into a chipper Monday afternoon.

The trees are in Lakeside Cemetery on the east side of Lincoln Avenue south of First Christian Church — the older half of Loveland's divided burial park.

Pioneers' Gravestones

The trees fell among some of Loveland's most revered pioneers. Under the branches and standing nearby are headstones with names such as Osborn, Chasteen, Pulliam, Milner and Alps.

Much of the Osborn family took a direct hit, but the old headstones didn't appear to be damaged.

One large granite stone was toppled from its base face-down in the grass. It possibly is the stone for patriarch Judge W.B. Osborn, who settled in Loveland in 1861.

Teri Johnson, curator of the Timberlane Farm Museum, said she has pictures of the family's section of the cemetery, and the marker for William B. Osborn, who died in 1916, is a large gray stone. The farm and museum on East First Street stand on Osborn's original homestead.

It was Osborn who in 1876 moved Loveland's original cemetery from the southwest corner of First Street and St. Louis Avenue to the Lakeside location, Johnson said.

"I have read in family writings that the Chubbock Ditch was overflowing sometimes in the spring runoff, and it was washing graves out," she said. "Judge Osborn and another gentleman bought the land and moved the graves up there."

Under the branches Monday, a gravestone for Judge Osborn's twin granddaughters looked undamaged. The girls, born in February 1876, died in April (Edith) and September (Jessie) of the same year.

Troy Griebe, cemetery supervisor crew leader for the city, said he'd been over to check on the headstones under the tree.

"They probably aren't damaged. I just haven't got down under that tree yet to find out," he said Monday afternoon. "If they're granite, they're going to fare out pretty well."

Families Responsible for Headstones

He said his crew will set the toppled stone back on its base once the tree is removed later this week. If a stone is damaged, though, it's the responsibility of the family, he said.

"When there's something that's broken, we try to get hold of the family," he said. "But in Lakeside Cemetery, a lot of those are so old that we don't have a clear path to the family."

The Osborn family, though, still has members in Loveland, including Dale Osborn, who used to work for the city, he said.

The storm blew up suddenly early Saturday afternoon with a downpour and violent gusts. Streets in northwest Loveland experienced some flooding, and branches were broken off trees.

The National Weather Service station at the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport in northeast Loveland recorded a wind gust of 61 mph at 2:15 p.m. and almost 0.4 inches of rain.

MacDonald, who is responsible for all the trees in the city's parks, said the only other fallen tree he was aware of was a 20-foot-tall linden that snapped off in the South Shore Scenic Parkway along Lake Loveland's shore.

Scott Pringle, deputy fire marshal with the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority, said the only storm-related call his department received was a fire alarm at the Rialto Theater downtown that was set off by a leak in the roof.

Debbie Mirabeau of Loveland gets a closer look Monday at a couple of blue spruce trees that snapped off in the wind at Loveland's Lakeside Cemetery during a storm Saturday. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

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